In addition to sending sentinels from the granary, the Qin army in Dongling and Danshui also sent powerful sentinels to the camp in the south. These sentinels are powerful and often drive away or even kill Zhao Jun's sentinels. Not to be outdone, the Zhao army sometimes strengthened its troops, but this sometimes led to small-scale battles involving dozens of people. Since the Zhao army's sentinels generally carry light halberds, they will suffer a lot against the Qin army armed with bamboo spears. An inch longer and an inch stronger is not just a talk, but an experience condensed with blood! Zhao Jun, who had suffered a loss, mobilized archers at night, not to be outdone, and ambushed the Qin army on the road where their patrol posts passed, and shot them. Since the two sides were actually very close to each other and within sight, the Qin army strengthened their observation and could often find the ambush sites of the Zhao army. They guided the Qin army to destroy the ambush points, but in turn wounded many Zhao army soldiers. Archers. ...The two sides just became intrigued and entangled. Generally speaking, due to the lack of food and reduced physical strength of the Zhao army, the overall combat effectiveness is not as good as that of the Qin army. It often suffers losses in entanglements and rarely takes advantage.
After daybreak, Zhao Jun launched an attack across the board again. The ten battalions of the first army came up in turn. Once the attack was triggered by the Qin army's arrows, they retreated. The attentive Doctor Qin discovered that the Zhao army always picked up the arrows shot by the Qin army when retreating. At the end of the day, although the Qin army did not lose its position, the soldiers' physical strength was consumed a lot. More importantly, the bows and arrows were consumed a lot: there were ten battalions, and each battalion usually shot three arrows when they attacked. At the end of the day, one archer had to Shoot thirty arrows. Usually at the end of the battle, the used arrows and arrows shot by the enemy can be recycled to replenish them; but today, the Zhao army did not shoot arrows, but only charged, and even picked up all the arrows shot by the Qin army. The Qin army Only consumption, no replenishment!
Bai Qi laughed angrily at Zhao Kuo's almost deceitful attack, and cursed: "Cunning man actually got this trick!" He ordered all armies to select the best shooters and concentrate them in the first-line camps to prevent aimless Qi soldiers. When shooting, try to shoot directly. At the same time, Bai Qi asked all the armies to prepare, and if there was an opportunity, they could send the Zhao army closer to encircle and suppress them.
Zhao Kuo's fighting style also inspired Bai Qi, and he also launched a diversionary attack on the fortress with the Nanjun Army the next day. The Nanjun Army launched an attack in a scattered formation unique to the Chu people. They took turns attacking from three directions: Danshui, Dongling, and Liangshan. Zhao Jun continued to attack, and so did Bai Qi's attacks. The tactics adopted were also similar to those of Zhao Kuo. Once the Zhao army fired an arrow, the Qin army retreated and then launched an attack from another direction.
On the thirteenth day, Wang Lu's troops also launched an offensive battle. Targeting the Danshui Barrier adjacent to the southern fortress, he also concentrated ten battalions and launched successive attacks. Therefore, the entire Shicheng defense line from Danyang Ridge to Liangshan was attacked by the Zhao army, while the Qin army attacked the Danshui line. The Qin army was not as strong as the Zhao army and had fewer attack points, mainly concentrated around the fortresses in the south; while the Zhao army adopted a broad frontal attack.
They fought like this for three days. On the fifteenth day, even though they mobilized excellent archers to come forward, the Qin army's arrows were still exhausted. Although the Qin army killed as many as ten thousand Zhao soldiers in the process, the Zhao army finally dragged the Qin army into hand-to-hand combat. During the offensive battles of the past few days, the Zhao army never let go of an arrow and recovered all the arrows shot by the Qin army. In the southern barrier group, the Zhao army also learned to be good and did not engage in long-distance battles with the Qin army. The Qin army did not advance to a distance of fifty steps and generally did not shoot arrows, which greatly improved the killing effectiveness of the Qin army. In the Qin army's attacks in the past few days, thousands of people were killed and injured. Only Wang Lu's side had decent tactics, with multiple arms including archers participating in the attack. If the Zhao army gets too close to the Qin army, the Qin army can use archers to counterattack, and the Zhao army will suffer heavy casualties. So the entrance and exit there is usually between one hundred and eighty steps.
From the sixteenth day onwards, the battle shifted to a combat situation dominated by hand-to-hand combat. Zhao's army is large in number but weak in physical strength and usually collapses at the first touch. However, the Qin army struggled to cope with ten consecutive battles and was exhausted by the end of the battle. Since the Zhao army did not fight seriously with the Qin army, they retreated as soon as they made contact. Although the Qin army was half exhausted, it achieved few gains.
On the seventeenth day, Gaodu's oar shields built a cross, which was pushed to the Dongling camp by the soldiers stationed in Jushan. According to the tactics of the Chu people, the cross-row shield can provide protection for a thousand people. Bai Qi organized a day of training and selected a thousand people to test the power of the oar shield. He chose a fort built on a relatively flat site, with the goal of dismantling the archery tower in the fort.
The archery tower in the southern camp is a platform supported by a tall tree trunk, one tree height above the ground, supported by tree stumps on all sides, and the top is paved with wooden boards to form a carriage-like structure, which can be used by five people to shoot arrows on it. The advantage of this kind of building is that it is high and can be shot from a high position, and it is difficult to protect it with ordinary shields. The disadvantage is that it is unstable. After being hit by a huge force, it can easily collapse and be difficult to recover. In the southern fortress group, there are more than ten such arrow towers, located in the center of the camp, providing "air support" for the defense of the camp. If the Qin army adopts the traditional phalanx attack, it will easily be cleared by the arrow towers in the air, causing huge casualties. However, after using the Chu people's dispersed formation, because the formation was not dense enough, the efficiency of air strikes was not high. Its function was similar to that of archers on the barrier, which was only equivalent to one more firepower point.
It was the day after the first lunar month, and the sky was dim. In the darkness, the shield with ten plus oars rumbled out, followed by a thousand soldiers, and another three thousand soldiers supporting it.
The Qin army attacked in the dark night, and the Zhao army did not dare to neglect. They immediately took up their positions and reported to their superiors at the same time.
The rumble of cars was particularly harsh at night. Zhao Jun couldn't see clearly what it was, and was even more surprised and uncertain. However, he felt that the darkness in front of him was overwhelming, and he didn't know how many troops there were. There was a tall thing in front of him that looked like a city gate, which he had never seen before.
The oar shield is more than two or three feet high and about one step wide. It is mounted on a cart. There are two frames behind it, each supported by five soldiers. One hundred soldiers were divided into four columns and lined up behind the oars and shields. The troops arrived about a hundred paces away from Zhao Jun's camp, adjusted the front of the oar shields, and formed a moving wall about twenty paces wide. At the sound of a command, they rumbled forward.
Zhao Jun had never seen them and did not know what these black things were. When he saw them moving towards him, he shot the arrows under the command of the five hundred generals. He ordered the people on the archery tower to look out, but the height of the thing was different from the height of the archery tower. The difference is not big, and there is nothing visible from the arrow tower.
After a hail of arrows, there was no obvious effect. The thing didn't stop moving forward, and there was no wail from the person who was hit by the arrow. The five hundred men would have no choice but to order another shot. As a result, the thing on the opposite side unexpectedly recalled the speed of movement, and a large wall rushed towards the camp quickly.
The five hundred people were anxious and ordered to shoot one after another, but they could not stop it. Not long after, the thing rushed forward, shouted, and crashed into the camp fence.
The fence was made by inserting wooden stakes into the ground and ramming the earth layer by layer. Due to the limitations of manpower and material resources, the rammed earth was not thick, only a few inches, which was enough to deal with bows, arrows and ordinary weapons. However, the huge impact force of the cart pushed by these ten people was beyond the endurance range of the camp wall. The door and grille all fell down. The soldiers behind swarmed out, each holding a long pole and beating them randomly, killing all the soldiers in the camp in a short time. The people on the archery tower were shooting arrows desperately at this time. Although some people fell down from arrows from time to time, more Zhao troops were overturned by the Qin army, and they could not stop the Qin army's charge. After a while, the Qin army reached the foot of the archery tower. A dozen strong soldiers came out. Two or three of them supported a wooden stake and worked together. After only a few shakes, the archery tower above lost its balance and capsized. , the soldier inside fell from the air and was seriously injured. Seeing that the task of destroying the archery tower had been completed, Doctor Qin who led the team did not hesitate to fight. He rescued the wounded and the whole army retreated with oars and shields.
When the Zhao army was dying, the enemy suddenly retreated. It felt like a desperate situation, so no one dared to pursue him. While rescuing the wounded in the camp, there was no time to repair the damaged camp fence.
Since the Qin army only charged once, they broke through the Zhao army's camp and then quickly retreated. By the time five thousand generals and ten thousand generals arrived, the battle had been over for a long time. Looking at the messy camp, the five hundred generals recounted the story of the Qin army's night attack to the five thousand generals and ten thousand generals over and over again. Since half of the battalion had been seriously injured and lost its combat effectiveness, it was withdrawn by tens of thousands of soldiers. Since the camp had been destroyed, no more soldiers were sent up.
Thousands of people visited the neighboring camps, and they all said they saw a dark thing, which seemed to be a high wall or a city gate. It rushed up all the way, knocked over the camp fence in one fell swoop, and rushed in. In the camp. Before they could react, they all retreated again. To this day, they don't know what it is. Ten thousand people would have no choice but to report the battle situation to Zhao Kuo.
Zhao Kuo came to the destroyed camp only after dawn and checked the situation. From the scattered footprints and ruts, a retainer judged that it was an instrument called a scull shield. It was created by Gongshu Ban, a craftsman from the State of Lu. The shape can be large or small. A small one only needs one or two people to push it, while a large one may need the support of hundreds of people. Its main function is like a huge shield. The shield was so big that no one could lift it, so it had to be put on a cart and pushed around. Judging from the traces at the scene, it should be this thing.
Zhao Kuo asked: "What's the plan?"
The retainer said: "The oars and shields are only for guarding against arrows, nothing else. If we attack them with troops, they will be defeated!"
So Zhao Kuo told ten thousand generals to notify each camp. If there was another attack with oars and shields, there was no need to use bows and arrows to stop them. All nearby camps could send out warriors to fight. Although the archery tower in this camp was damaged, the camp can still be restored, and new troops can be arranged to come over for renovation. Ten thousand people will agree one by one.
